Madison Bowey is signed, sealed, and delivered.
Thursday afternoon, the Capitals announced that the 23-year-old defenseman inked a two-year extension Thursday afternoon that will pay him $1 million per season. The contract leaves Tom Wilson as the Caps’ last remaining restricted free agent.
With defenseman Madison Bowey signed to a two year contract with an AAV of $1M, we now show the club with $7.27M in projected cap space and a roster of 21 (13F – 6D – 2G)
There is 1 RFA remaining:
F Tom Wilson (did not elect for arbitration)https://t.co/iDrrMiK55o pic.twitter.com/YSFItr0ZGZ— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 19, 2018
Bowey played 51 games with the Caps during his rookie season. He spent a majority of that time with Brooks Orpik (60%) and the pairing struggled.
Paired with Brooks Orpik for 60 percent of his ice time, Bowey got caved in. The Caps owned just 42.1 percent of the shots and 33.3 percent of the goals (7-14) during their shifts. Opponents saw their rate of high-danger chances increase by ten percent against Bowey-Orpik than against the worst defensive teams in the league.
It’s easy to conclude that it didn’t work. It’s harder to say why. Bowey is not in the same class as Orpik’s former partner, Nate Schmidt, but he does have some of Schmidt’s flair on offense. The problem seemed that the Caps just didn’t play much offense during Bowey’s shifts, perhaps because they had such a hard time getting the puck back and transitioning to offense. When Bowey got ice time with one of the team’s best puck-moving defensemen in Dmitry Orlov (153 minutes together), Bowey saw the highest shot share (51.9 percent) of his season.
Hassett took a deeper look at Bowey’s numbers during the offseason and there’s reason for optimism in the future.
Bowey now sits sixth on the Caps depth chart on defense with Jakub Jerabek and Orpik no longer on the team.
More from the Capitals:
The Washington Capitals have re-signed defenseman Madison Bowey to a two-year contract, senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today. Bowey’s contract will carry an average annual value of $1 million.
Bowey, 23, made his NHL debut on Oct. 14, 2017, against the Philadelphia Flyers and recorded his first point on Oct. 26, against the Vancouver Canucks. In 51 games during the 2017-18 season, Bowey recorded 12 assists, tied for ninth among rookie defensemen.
The 6’2″, 198-pound defenseman recorded eight points (2g, 6a) in nine games with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. Bowey recorded three multi-point games, including a two-goal game in Hershey’s 2-1 win against the Hartford Wolfpack on March 24. In 113 career AHL games with Hershey, Bowey recorded 51 points (9g, 42a).
The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native was drafted by the Capitals with the 53rd overall pick in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft. As a junior player with the Kelowna Rockets, a team he captained for two seasons, Bowey recorded 172 points (58g, 114a) in 259 games. In 2015, Bowey won the World Junior Championship with Team Canada and the Ed Chynoweth Cup as a WHL champion and was named as a First Team All Star in the WHL.
Photo: @Capitals
